We'll send our best work every month.
Speculative fiction has always had difficulty including women. The number of spec fic stories that don’t have enough women in them is nearly equal to the number of spec fic stories in existence, but some stories are particularly egregious. The absence of women in these … read more »
Everyone loves a good protagonist, but what about the unsung side characters who faithfully serve their role without any thanks? What if they were the main character? How would that change the story, and would the story be better for it? We consider the changes … read more »
There were so many superheroes that we barely got through half of them last week, so we’re taking another crack at it. This time Chris busts out Gotham to show how a story can avoid the problems of characters being too powerful or too moral. … read more »
What’s that on your TV screen? Is it a bird or plane? Nope, it’s three podcast hosts talking about superheroes on television. Capes and spandex work differently on the small screen than in movies or comic books, and we’re here to discuss why. Although mostly … read more »
Animal companions come in all shapes and sizes, but they do share similar characteristics. First, they’re all animals of some kind, though not always animals we’d recognize. Second, they exist primarily to support another character and rarely have an arc of their own. Third, they rarely … read more »
We did this topic once before, but it turns out there are a LOT of scifi movies out there, and most of them have something to say about something. Joined once again by special guest Graham, we learn firsthand just why Chris thinks life will … read more »
Do even the worst train wrecks have something good to take from them? We will find out as Chris, Oren, and returning guest Graham sort through a long list of awful stories looking for the slightest gems. Sometimes it’s a character that’s better than the … read more »
No, this is not an article about Popeye the Sailor Man.* Rather, spinach is anything that humiliates a character or tarnishes their image as a cool badass in the audience’s eyes. It can take the form of a character failing to save their loved one, getting … read more »
A character’s motivation is central to who they are. You could say it’s what motivates them.* Without it, characters won’t do the hard work a plot requires of them. Motivation is especially important to protagonists. If the main character doesn’t have a strong motivation, readers will have nothing to … read more »
We’ve dissected the first chapters of terrible novels and great ones.* We’ve looked at entire short stories, and now I’ll kick it up a notch. I’m going to pit two books against each other in a battle to the DEATH! No, I’m not sure how a book … read more »